Terence Winter (born in Brooklyn, New York) is an American motion picture writer and producer. He is the creator, head writer, show runner and executive producer of Boardwalk Empire. He has worked on the first, second, third and fourth seasons. Before creating Boardwalk Empire, Winter was a writer and executive producer for the HBO television drama The Sopranos.

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Winter attended New York University in New York City, where he received a bachelor's degree. He went on to attend St. John's University School of Law, and became a member of the bars of New York State and Connecticut. He practiced law for two years in New York City before moving to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to pursue a screenwriting career. He eventually won a spot in the Warner Bros. Sitcom Writers Workshop, and later joined the writing staff of the Fox Broadcasting series The Great Defender, starring Michael Rispoli, later a Sopranos cast-member.

Prior to The Sopranos, Winter wrote for the series Sister, Sister, Xena: Warrior Princess, The Cosby Mysteries, The New Adventures of Flipper, Diagnosis: Murder, Charlie Grace, DiResta and The PJs.

Winter wrote or co-wrote 25 episodes of The Sopranos. After series creator David Chase, Winter wrote the most episodes of the series.

Winter joined the crew of The Sopranos as a co-producer for the second season in 2000. He wrote the season's fifth episode "Big Girls Don't Cry". The episode was directed by Tim Van Patten and marked the beginning of a long collaboration. Winter went on to recruit Van Patten as an executive producer and director for Boardwalk Empire. Winter was promoted to producer from the seventh episode onwards. He wrote the season's eleventh episode "House Arrest", which was again directed by Van Patten.

He remained a producer for the third season in 2001. He wrote the season's fifth episode "Another Toothpick", which was directed by Jack Bender. He co-wrote the teleplay for the sixth episode "University" with Salvatore J. Stabile from a story he co-wrote with Chase, Todd A. Kessler, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. The episode was directed by Jack Bender. He was promoted to supervising producer from the seventh episode onwards. He co-wrote the season's eleventh episode "Pine Barrens" with Van Patten. The episode was directed by Steve Buscemi, who Winter would later cast as the lead in Boardwalk Empire. In 2001 Witner and Van Patten won a Writers Guild Award and an Edgar Award for "Pine Barrens".

In 2003 he was promoted again to co-executive producer for the fourth season. He wrote or co-wrote seven of the season's 13 episodes. Winter co-wrote the second episode "No Show" with Chase, his first credited collaboration with the creator, the episode was directed by John Patterson. He scripted the fourth episode "The Weight" solo, it was his second with Bender as director. He co-wrote the seventh episode "Watching Too Much Television" with freelance writer Nick Santora. It was again directed by Patterson. He co-wrote the story for episode eight "Mergers and Acquisitions" with Chase, Burgess & Green. The teleplay was written by Lawrence Konner and the episode was directed by Dan Attias. Winter later hired Konner as a co-executive producer for Boardwalk Empire. He co-wrote episode ten "The Strong, Silent Type" with Burgess and Green. He co-wrote the story for "Calling All Cars" again working with Chase, Burgess & Green. The teleplay was written by David Flebotte, Chase, Burgess & Greem and the episode was directed by Van Patten. Winter later hired Flebotte as a writer for Boardwalk Empire. Winter wrote the series penultimate episode "Eloise" solo, the episode was directed by James Hayman. The third season episode "Army of One" features future Boardwalk Empire star Michael K. Williams in a co-starring role as a drug dealer named "Ray Ray".

He was promoted to executive producer for the fifth season in 2004. He continued to regularly write episodes, contributing to four scripts for the season. The season featured Buscemi in a season long guest starring role as Tony Blundetto. He co-wrote the season premiere with Chase, the episode was directed by Van Patten. He wrote the seventh episode "In Camelot", which was directed by Buscemi. He co-wrote the episode "Unidentified Black Males" with fellow executive producer Matthew Weiner. The episode was again directed by Van Patten. He wrote the series penultimate episode "Long Term Parking" which was again directed by Van Patten. The episode featured the departure of starring cast member Drea de Matteo. Winter won two Emmys for his work on the season, one for Outstanding Drama Series (as an Executive Producer), and one for Best Writing in a Drama Series (for the episode "Long Term Parking").

He remained an executive producer for the sixth and final season when it began in 2006. The season was divided into two parts and he wrote five episodes for the twelve episode first part. He wrote the season premiere "Members Only" which was episode was directed by Van Patten. He wrote the fifth episode "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request..." which was directed by Buscemi. He co-wrote the sixth episode "Live Free or Die" with Chase, Burgess & Green. "Live Free or Die" was directed by Van Patten. He wrote the ninth episode "The Ride" which was directed by Alan Taylor. He co-wrote the finale of part I "Kaisha" with Weiner and Chase. The mid-season finale was also directed by Taylor. Winter won another writing Emmy in 2006 for his episode "Members Only."

He returned as a writer and executive producer for season 6 part II in 2007. He wrote another four episodes for the show. He wrote the fourteenth episode "Stage 5", again directed by Taylor. He wrote the fifteenth episode "Remember When", directed by Phil Abraham. Winter wrote and, for the first time, directed the season's seventeenth episode, "Walk Like a Man". His final episode was "The Second Coming" and marked another with Van Patten as director. Winter won his second Writers Guild Award when the show won for Outstanding Drama Series. He also won a fourth Emmy, again in the Outstanding Drama Series category. He won his third Writers Guild Award for his episode "The Second Coming," in 2008.

Winter was announced as the creator of the series in 2008 with Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson already attached as executive producers. Winter adapted the series from the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson. The book charts the origins of Atlantic City as a health resort through to the late twentieth century. Winter had been interested in creating a series set in the 1920s, feeling that it had never properly been explored before. It was for this reason that he decided to focus his adaption of the novel on the Prohibition era section. On September 1, 2009, it was announced that Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese would direct the pilot. The production would be very ambitious, with some even speculating it would be too large scale for television. "I kept thinking 'This is pointless. How can we possibly afford a boardwalk, or an empire?'" says creator Terence Winter. "We can't call it 'Boardwalk Empire' and not see a boardwalk." The production would eventually build a 300-foot-long (91 m) boardwalk in an empty lot in Brooklyn, New York at the cost of five million dollars. Despite a reported budget of up to $50 million, the pilot's final budget came in at $18 million.

Scorsese was an asset when it came to casting for the series. "Scorsese is an actor magnet," commented Winter. "Everybody wants to work with him. I had all these pictures on my wall and I thought, 'I'd really better write some good stuff for these people.' In casting the role of Nucky Thompson (based upon real-life Atlantic City political boss Enoch L. Johnson), Winter wanted to stray from the real life Johnson as much as possible. "If we were going to cast accurately what the real Nucky looked like, we'd have cast Jim Gandolfini." The idea of casting Steve Buscemi in the lead role came about when Scorsese mentioned wanting to work with the actor, whom Winter knew well having worked with him on The Sopranos. Winter sent the script out to Buscemi, who responded very enthusiastically. "I just thought, 'Wow. I'm almost sorry I've read this, because if I don't get it, I'm going to be so sad.' My response was 'Terry, I know you're looking at other actors'... and he said, 'No, no, Steve, I said we want you.'"

Winter drew some of his crew from the team he had worked with on The Sopranos. Tim Van Patten joined the crew as an executive producer, writer and regular director. Van Patten had gained experience as a producer working on the HBO World War II mini-series The Pacific. He hired The Sopranos writer Lawrence Konner as a co-executive producer and writer. Winter's first season writing staff was completed by supervising producers Howard Korder and Margaret Nagle, staff writers Steve Kornacki and Meg Jackson and freelance writer Paul Simms.

Winter wrote three episodes for the first season. The series pilot "Boardwalk Empire", the second episode "The Ivory Tower" and the season finale "A Return to Normalcy". Both "The Ivory Tower" and "A Return to Normalcy" were directed by Van Patten. Winter and the first season writing staff won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Writing in a New Series in 2010. They were also nominated for the WGA Award for Best Writing in a Dramatic Series. The show won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series Drama. In addition, Steve Buscemi won for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series and Kelly MacDonald was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. The first season was in the American Film Institute's Top Ten List for TV in 2010. The cast of Boardwalk Empire won the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series, while Steve Buscemi won the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. Martin Scorsese won the Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series for the pilot episode.

Winter remained an executive producer and the show runner for the second season in 2011. Lawrence Konner left the show to develop a new series for the Starz network. Howard Korder was promoted to fill the co-executive producer role. Margaret Nagle left the crew to develop a new miniseries for HBO leaving the supervising producer position vacant for the second season. Winter hired two New York playwrights for the second season writing staff, Itamar Moses and Bathsheba Doran. Moses served as an executive story editor. He promoted staff writer Steve Kornacki to executive story editor. Doran replaced Kornacki as the season's staff writer. Dave Flebotte completes the second season writing staff, working freelance as he did on The Sopranos.

Winter wrote a further three episodes for the second season: The season premiere "21"; the eighth episode "Two Boats and a Lifeguard" and the season finale "To the Lost". All three episodes were directed by Van Patten. He had a cameo voice role in "Battle of the Century" as the radio commentator on a boxing match. Moses and Doran left the crew at the close of the season.

Winter continued as an executive producer and the show runner for the third season in 2012. He promoted Korder to Executive Producer. Kornacki returned as a co-producer and writer. Winter hired the writing team Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider as Co-Executive Producers and writers; they had worked together on The Sopranos. He also added Chris Haddock as a Co-Executive Producer and writer. David Stenn joined the crew as a Supervising Producer, completing the third season writing staff.

Winter wrote the season premiere "Resolution". The episode was directed by Van Patten.